Sleep Tight

Cesar is the concierge of an apartment building. Unable to build any happiness of his own, he has made a job of ruining other people's. His particular target is Clara, the woman who smiles every morning and is content with her life. At night he lets himself into her flat, puts her under with chloroform, adds chemicals to her creams, leaves insects. He does not want to kill her, he wants to break her. When Clara's boyfriend Marcos arrives it turns to violence and to an outcome nobody planned. Jaume Balaguero directed. Luis Tosar plays Cesar and Marta Etura plays Clara. It opened in October 2011. Its choice reverses the story: you watch from the side of the perpetrator rather than the victim, which puts the tension somewhere else entirely. On a 5 million dollar budget it took 8.7 million worldwide. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 94 percent. Variety called it designed to give audiences sleepless nights and mostly succeeding; Empire praised its Hitchcockian suspense. At the 4th Gaudi Awards it won several prizes including Best Director, Best Actor and Best Editing. The story was remade in South Korea in 2018 as Door Lock, told from the victim's point of view. Who it is for: viewers who like thrillers told from the perpetrator's side, and Luis Tosar. Who it is not for: anyone who lives alone. The film aims straight at that fear and offers nothing to settle it.